How does the saying go? It’s something like ‘I would rather cry in a Mercedes than laugh on the bus.’ This is just another version of the old time-worn saw ‘Money doesn’t buy happiness.’ Well, neither does poverty,…

The pictures are everywhere – refugees fleeing their homelands for safety, to the chance of a better life. Some pictures are galvanizing, like the one of the three-year-old Syrian boy face down in the surf on a Turkish…

Do you cause congestion in the workplace? Are you a bottleneck? Does not having control over every little thing that your staff works on make your skin crawl? Is the only way for things to get done correctly…

A look around the Velsoft office reveals just what you’d expect: traditional work stations and chairs. Except for two oddities tucked shamefully in the corner. One is blue, the other purple. These bent-wood yoga chairs are the relics…

“People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?” Rodney King asked that in the spring of 1992 as Los Angeles suffered through riots following the acquittal of four police officers who were charged…

Let’s look at a few numbers. 25, 49, 35 The first number tells us that one-quarter of Chief Human Resources Officers and HR leaders lie awake at night worrying about employee engagement and retention. Twenty-five percent, that’s a…

There’s a street near our office that I cross daily to get to work. The other day I saw a driver lock his brakes and almost rear-end a car that had stopped for me at a marked crosswalk.…

Music or no music? Music in the workplace can be a divisive issue, without a doubt. Some listeners submit themselves to the isolation of headphones while others like having soft music playing for ambiance from speakers or a…

We've got an addiction problem here at the office. One day it might be muffins, or cookies, or granola bars, or cake, or donair egg rolls…mmmmmm, donair egg rolls. Another day it might be marshmallow squares, pastries, or…

Have you ever thought about how you measure up as a trainer? Are you the hyper-prepared A type who leaves absolutely nothing to chance? Are you the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type who wings it? Somewhere in between? I know what…

Clothes make the man. Appearances can be deceiving. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Dress for success. Hogwash. These platitudes are not worth the pixels that make them appear on your screen. Attitude is everything. I heard…

If you ask me what I’m going to have for supper I couldn’t tell you. I can’t see that far into the future, I’m not a fortune teller, and planning ahead is not my forte. But that won’t…

The number of stress balls flying around the Velsoft office far outpaces the actual level of stress. Those balls are the orphans of a promotional idea that’s now lost in the mists of time. A coffin-shaped box that…

Here’s a topic that might get your blood boiling, one way or the other: political correctness. According to Wikipedia, political correctness means “using words or behavior which will not offend any group of people.” Regardless of which side…

Coffee is nearly as important to Velsoft as the Internet. And considering we’re an online business, that’s saying a lot. But it’s not far from the truth. Our coffee maker hardly ever stops running during the workday and…

Pressed for time? Pressed for learning? That’s pretty common these days and it looks like one vision of MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) learning aims to address that. The NOOC (Nano Open Online Course) is the next step…

How well do you know yourself? Really know yourself? Be honest. Can you look at yourself and your skills and say that you don’t need any improvement? If so, then congratulations, I wish I could join you but…

You have finally settled on an LMS for your eLearning. Congratulations. You’ve managed to force your courses into that LMS and have started to edit them. It’s not easy, in fact it’s downright painful. It’s awkward and slow…

A recent federal election here in Canada gave our country a new leader. Any group that wants to move ahead, make changes, or improve, needs a strong leader. Countries and businesses are very similar that way, but there’s…

How many times have you put your head into your hands and muttered to yourself when using a computer? Technology can be wonderful and also wonderfully frustrating. That’s why there are help functions built into software, because at…

Gone are the days when robber barons and sleazy executives could make their way through the corporate landscape and come out on top. Millennials are the workforce of the future and have shown through their values that they…

You’ve finalized all the eLearning details for your organization, except one: How to get employee buy-in. I’ve worked in offices where training was mandatory and accepted grudgingly and with plenty of grumbling in the classroom. You may be…

Earlier today I decided to give my desk a cleaning. It wasn’t easy. I had to pick up stuff, move piles of junk, redistribute some other miscellany and then give it a wipe with a cleaning cloth. As…

Smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart glasses, connected headbands. I’m all for wearable tech. I love gizmos and gadgets and I feel pretty cool when wearing them, but some of these pieces of equipment do come with a high geek…

How does your company smell? Like a fresh spring forest or like a sweltering metropolis? The late Sumantra Ghoshal asks that of the World Economic Forum in this YouTube video, not with the goal of putting businesses to…

Which would you rather have: $100,000 more per year or a good friend at work? The answer would likely surprise you. An article on The Atlantic website says there is great value in relationships. That makes sense when…

What’s wrong with learning for the sake of learning? Nothing at all, and that, I guess, is the reason behind many Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. Most are free and the variety of courses available is astounding.…